Episode 191 God Needs A Faithful Remnant - Part 2 by Remnant Warriors Rise (2024)

Full transcript:

00:00

The Lord is raising up a remnant of bold warriors in this generation who will rise up with a message of truth to combat against the darkness of our times. God longs to move and answer your prayers and use you in powerful ways. Will you be a part of this remnant? This is the Remnant Warriors Rise Podcast.

00:34

Wow, God is so good and I'm thankful for all his goodness and I'm glad that you are with me, choosing to be with me on this episode of the podcast. At the outset, I just want to say this, I feel like there may be somebody listening today that you are discouraged about some things that are happening in your life. But let me just say like this, the Lord never promised everything was going to be easy.

01:03

He just did not, but he did promise to be with you in everything and in every area. So my friend, just know that you are not alone today and that God is with you and that he is going to propel you into the place that you need to be as you continue to trust in him. So don't give up and don't quit.

01:29

I want to jump into a topic today that the Lord is beginning to stir in my heart and I'll just simply say it, it's this, it's pressing into the kingdom of God, pressing into the kingdom of God. I really feel like the Lord has laid on my heart this statement, say to my people, it's time for them to learn to press into my kingdom, to press, come on.

01:52

If we're the people of God and the remnant warriors of God that God is using to bring light to the darkness in this last day, then we've got to be people who at all costs press into the kingdom of God. What does it mean to press? What does that mean?

02:12

We get the idea that to press generally means, you know, to push or to shove or to forcefully make room or to push your way into something while at the same time, you know, being pushed and pressed against by that which tries to keep you from your place. I want you to understand that that's important because as you try to get closer to the Lord, so many people are unfamiliar with spiritual warfare.

02:36

I had a conversation with a person just yesterday at the time of this recording and they were talking about spiritual warfare and how oftentimes people just don't understand and they don't believe it's real and they don't think about the reality of the unseen world, but friend, there is a reality to the unseen world and absolutely we are fighting against demonic strongholds and powers that want to keep us down.

03:03

Now I'm not one to advocate looking for a demon behind every bush or demon behind every tree. I don't think that, but at that same time on the flip side of that coin, if you are actively pursuing the Lord Jesus, then the fact is there is actively going to be some demonic warfare pursuing you because you're trying to bring light into places where there

03:30

are strongholds of darkness and that could be in your family, it could be in your marriage, it could be in your workplace. You're trying to bring in light into those areas and so you're forcefully pressing and making room and at the same time you're being pushed against. Sometimes I think we wonder, why am I being pushed so hard?

03:49

Why am I being pressed against so hard? Why is it that everything is coming against me? I'm being pushed and pressed against. Well, it's because you're trying to bring light in a dark place and you're pressing into the kingdom.

04:01

So to press is the act of putting pressure, you know, maybe even to try to get into something and so as we press into the kingdom of God, we're putting pressure on the kingdom of God, we're pushing and pressing our way in. Ironically enough, the dictionary defines it also as an aggressive pressuring defense employed in basketball, often over the entire court area.

04:28

So it's a press to keep the opposite army, if you will, at bay. Not only are we pressing into the kingdom, but we're pressing back against the darkness. So to press into the kingdom of God is to forcefully push your way into those things which God is trying to do in your life and I feel like the Lord is saying, tell and teach my people to press again into my kingdom.

04:53

I feel like there was probably a time in history where we better understood that we were supposed to press into the kingdom of God and frankly speaking, it often comes in times where the church is going through difficult seasons, hard seasons in the earth and in those times that remnant, which is what we are, which is what God is raising up, that remnant of people begin to press and push into the things of God because God is our anchor, our source,

05:25

our stronghold and even though in easy times we know he's that, you look all through scripture and in the easy times, that's when people begin to become lax. That's when people begin to let down their guard and you know what church friend, we've got to press again into the kingdom of God. Press again as if we have once known how, but we've forgotten how and we've forgotten

05:49

the need. We've got to learn again how and remember the need. Let me read you a scripture. The Bible says in Luke 16 beginning verse 14, now the Pharisees who were lovers of money also heard all these things and they derided him.

06:05

Verse 15, and he said to them, you are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts for what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God. Verse 16, the law and the prophets, now listen, this is important. The law and the prophets were until John.

06:23

Since that time, he's talking about John the Baptist, since that time, the kingdom of heaven has been preached and everyone is pressing into it. Everyone is pressing into it. It's the same wording in the original language where it talks about in Matthew, the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, the violent take it by force.

06:46

In this passage, he says everyone's pressing into the kingdom of God. There are both positive and negative commentaries on this passage of scripture and I enjoy to read what the commentaries say. Some say that people were mindlessly, even flippantly and certainly unrepentantly pressing into Jesus almost as if to get into the newest and latest thing and this is somewhat true.

07:11

There were crowds gathered around him for multiple reasons and we see this even today. The latest church fad, the latest church, the latest trend, the latest spiritual trend, the latest songs and I'm for going forward and progressing in the things of God. I'm absolutely for every church going forward. I'm absolutely for new songs and worship being released into the kingdom of God.

07:39

So don't misunderstand what I'm saying or read something into it. What I'm saying is this, we can almost turn our spiritual life on remote if we're not careful and we can just mindlessly press into these things, but that's not what he's looking for. He's looking for folks who have a heart to press in.

07:58

It's in our heart, not just some mindless activity to sing a new song or just to be entertained. The church is not about entertainment. No, I'm going to remind you though, there were others that were pressed around Jesus for other reasons.

08:15

They were thronging him. One translation says pressing him because, because why? Because of their faith in him and because of their need for healing and for help and they all received as they pressed in. So you had one group that was just like hanging around the periphery.

08:35

They're here just because the, you know, the bread and fish, they're here just because there's some new novel thing. Somebody's casting out demons and healing people. They want to see the show, but yet there's other people who are pressing in because they recognize Jesus.

08:48

They recognize he is the answer to their need and so they are pressing into the kingdom of God for hope's sake. And I believe Jesus is trying to speak about the true press of the spirit to break out into the revival power of God. Again, like I said, it's the same word that, you know, the kingdom of heaven, heaven suffers

09:09

violence and the violent take it by force. And so the Lord wants me to remind you that we are to press into his kingdom the right way and for the right reasons. It's not just to see a new, no. When revival strikes your life, your church, your family, your workplace, your area, your

09:28

region, it's not just a novel thing to, to, to see, Oh, look at the miracles and look at the, it's just, it's not just a novel activity or something to do. No, we press into Jesus for hope's sake and because he has what we need, his kingdom has what we need. Listen, because at the same time that some were pressing in, there were some that, you

09:51

know, and they were pressing in sometimes sincerely, sometimes not, but others were sitting idly by just letting the kingdom of God pass them up. And we still see that there was, and there is a choice that's involved with the kingdom of God as much as some people. So there were really three groups around Jesus.

10:11

There were some that were just seeing the show. There were others that were pressing in for hope. They needed what Jesus had. And then there were others that said, I don't have time for this. And they just let the kingdom of God pass them up.

10:25

But listen, why were people eager to hear the teaching of Jesus? Well, I believe because it gave them hope. They felt, they felt the life that his words imparted. Did you hear me? They felt there was tangible feeling of life that his words imparted.

10:45

And there's a reason for that. The Bible says in John six, verse 63, that is the spirit who gives life, the flesh profits nothing. Jesus said, the words that I speak to you are spirit and they are alive. And so whenever the words of God were spoken over them, there was life that was imparted

11:03

and they begin to recognize their spiritual need. Church, friend, we've got to recognize our spiritual need and once again, press into the kingdom of God. We've got to press in just like the woman at the well. They could instantly recognize that there was something different about this man named

11:25

Jesus in his words and they had a great desire and an unction to press into him, to press into him, which is also equivalent to pressing into the kingdom. So let me just say this, that pressing into the kingdom the correct way, listen, means pressing into the person of Jesus, pressing into the person of Jesus. We're not trying to get into his kingdom and bypass the king.

11:56

Wow. While some people simply press in to try to get the benefits of the Lord, you know, to truly gain the kingdom of God actually means to press into the person of Jesus because you recognize your need for repentance and you love him and you want him and you desire to be near to him and you begin to realize that everything he has is actually yours.

12:23

In the first place, when you press into him and I want to just kind of sum it up, we'll probably talk more about this, but sum it up by saying, Hey, we, we need to press into Jesus because we love him, not just because of his stuff, because he's the one that we desire. He's the object of our worship.

12:47

We press into Jesus. What does it mean? It means to abide, to abide in him, to live in him. The Bible says in him we live and we move and we have our being. Can I, can I say this?

12:58

Can I conjecture that maybe some of the reason we face discouragement, doubt, fear, depression, anxiety is because we're not living in Jesus and I'm not meaning this towards salvation, but in some ways he's not living in us and in some ways he's not abiding inside of us because we're not abiding inside of him. So we pressed him out instead of us pressing into the kingdom and pressing into Jesus,

13:23

we've actually pressed him out and we've allowed anxiety and fear and doubt and depression and discouragement to take root and to live in places in our life where they shouldn't be. Just like whenever I look at my garden and I see weeds there, I can either let those weeds stay and abide or I can choose to remove or pull up those weeds and we've got to choose

13:50

to pull those things from our life and then press into the person of Jesus. Why? Jesus loves you. Come on remnant. Come on people of God.

14:01

Come on friend. Please understand today that God loves you so much. He has such an extreme strong desire to pour his goodness into your life, but it's not necessarily always automatic. You've got to press into the things of God.

14:22

Bible said the violent take it by force. He said everybody's pressing into it. So to press into the kingdom, to live in the kingdom's principles, to enjoy the freedom that comes from living in the kingdom of God, we actually have to press our hearts into the king and love the king of the kingdom and worship the king of the kingdom and let

14:49

the king of the kingdom come and take up a residence in our heart to such a degree that we are subdued and submissive to him, to everything he has to say, that he becomes the Lord, not only for our eternal life, but he be