Speaker: Dr. Jay Leroux

Passage: Isaiah 8:11 – 9:2

GENERATIONAL CHANGE | ISAIAH 8:11 – 9:2

Gary Peters

This morning, we have a special guest with us; he’s one of the overseers of Vintage. I’ve known Jay for, I figured out, nineteen years, I think, this month, right before Thanksgiving. We met nineteen years ago in a suburb of Chicago, and we’ve been fast friends since. I love the sovereignty of God. Anybody love the sovereignty of God? Where He allows lives to intertwine and be remarkably changed because of it? That’s Jay and Linda’s heart for this church and for our pastors, and for Karen and I personally, for Greg and Belinda, and the rest of the staff. We are honored to have Dr Jay Leroux with us this morning. Let’s give him a Vintage welcome.

Dr. Jay

Well, what a privilege and honor it is to be here this morning. I want to get a lot accomplished so I can’t say too much. Linda and I consider it an extreme privilege, an honor, a humbling honor to be part of not only the Sanders family, the Peters family, this leadership, especially this church; it’s been a fabulous journey. You may not see my face every day, but I’m here every day, just so you’ll know that. This is a beautiful thing about being in Spirit, right? There’s really no dimensions that we can’t be yet; nothing we can’t touch. So I appreciate that. 

You’ll see my baby soon. She’s going to join me at the end next service. We had a great time on Wednesday night. Anybody here Wednesday? Was that fun? Right? Yeah, beautiful. 

Nothing I love more than when the worship team honors Him and gives Him glory. And so can we just let them know how much we appreciate them? We never realize the sound gals and guys back there, all the video, without them we really couldn’t have what we have here. So can we just let them know how much we appreciate them? They’re always working. 

THE VOICE WITHIN THE PROPHETS

I want to say a lot this morning. I’ve been waiting a long time to come here and just share this portion of history with us. I want to encourage you greatly. We are living in the greatest time period of the restoration of our God’s ultimate intention. It has been what was in His heart from the beginning and many generations– though He’s done great things in generations– most generations have never known the passion and ultimate purpose of incarnation, death, resurrection, and ascension of the One that we love. He’s intending to do it in this generation. 

In restoration, there’s always an enlarging of the prophetic voice within the prophetic writings. Paul will say something I loved the first time I read it:  during his trip outside of Antioch, he’ll stand in a synagogue, and he’ll say, “The prophets are read every Sabbath, but the voice of the prophets is never heard.” 

There’s a voice within the writings of the prophets, and depending on the level of restoration of His intention, that is enlarged. Not just as speakers, not just as what we think are special people. No, no, no, to us– His people– that we peer into this book and what once was difficult to understand or mysterious or unknown, He wants to make it known so that we fully see Him and see what He wants to do in our lives and in the lives of our children, grandchildren, and this world. 

Let me encourage you with this, because there’s so many things I can’t say, but I can say a little bit of the things I don’t want to say or can’t say: He was here long before we got here. Oh, I don’t mean Fort Collins, I mean this generation, this time, this day, He was already here. Without us realizing it, He’s been– as He always does– preparing us for this time. 

Certainly, my whole life has been prepared for this time period. And I don’t mind that He’s taken forty-six years. I figured I must really be bad off; there must be a serious problem with Jay Leroux. He’s got flesh beyond flesh, a lot of bull, lot of pigeon, a lot of money changing, a lot of dumb sheep in here because You’ve been working a long time on this. So is it me? Am I the problem? Well, I was, but He was taking care of that. But He’s been doing something in us, if you don’t mind me taking it from Mordecai’s mouth, for such a time as this.

BACKGROUND OF ISAIAH THE PROPHET

So as we approach the prophetic books– this isn’t school, but I’ve got to share this– three clear things we have to know when we approach the prophetic book like we’re going to do with one of the major ones this morning. We have to know who he is, who he is speaking to, what is happening in his country, what is happening in the nations around the world. It is written not just for historical facts, but for you and I to experience it so that we know the way of God and the intent of God in a time period like this. We’ve got to know it. We’ll see it in a moment in Isaiah’s life. 

Secondly– which I love– what is the Messianic word within the prophetic writings? I like it better this way. Who would this messiah be? What would he look like? Would he be what we were looking for? Will he be what we were anticipating? We know when He gets there, even though they’ve been hearing about it since the garden, they could not recognize Him. We know the builders refused Him, which made Him the head of the corner.

I love this, but here’s my favorite: what is the prophetic word, the prophetic voice within the prophetic writings, saying to any generation after his generation that is longing for Him to do something He’s never done, longing to see the restoration of God, not just better, not just more peace, not just more prosperity, we want what was in Your heart from the very beginning. We’re that generation. What is He saying to those generations? 

Lastly, I want to bring us into Isaiah’s time period. I want to relate to him this morning, I want us to feel his feelings, and I love that about the Scriptures. Believe it or not, I actually have a map, I actually have something to show. There it is.

It’s a terrible map, but who cares? It’s the only one I could find that’s even close. In Isaiah’s time period, the kingdom of Israel is split in two. It’s two hundred years earlier. Now, it’s the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom. Isaiah is a prophet to the nations, but he’s a prophet to the southern kingdom. He’s probably living in Jerusalem. 

The northern king is conspiring with the Syrian king and the Egyptian king, they are conspiring, there’s all kinds of conspiracy theories going out that they’re going to attack Judah. Judah cannot handle that war. So, everybody in the southern kingdom is extremely nervous. It’s a fearful moment, a fearful time. 

On top of that, what makes it worse is this is probably 708 or 709 BC. Thirteen years from this very moment, the kingdom of Assyria will become the greatest conquering nation of the ancient world that we’ve ever known. They will literally in thirteen years, remove the entire northern kingdom and replace them with their own captives. You and I will know them as the Samaritans, that far back they go. 

ISAIAH 8:11-9:2

Okay, off with the map. Are you with me? Isaiah, chapter 8, verse 11. King James, if you don’t mind this, so love the old language. This is this very moment: “For the Lord spake thus to me with a strong hand, and instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people, saying, say ye not, a confederacy”– the translation is conspiracy. I mean, Isaiah woke up, and his phone was blowing up with all the possibilities that could happen. “A conspiracy to all them to whom this people shall say, a conspiracy; neither fear ye, their fear, nor be afraid. Sanctify the Lord of hosts himself; and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread.” 

Look at this here: verse 14, the prophet clicks into now prophetic words that we know Peter will quote in his epistle. Verse 14, “And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offense to both the house of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And many among them shall stumble, and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken. Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples.” That’s the only time that word is used in the Old Testament, definitely referring to the New Testament. 

Verse 17, “And I will wait upon the Lord that hideth his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him. Behold, I and the children of whom the Lord hath given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the Lord of hosts, which dwelleth in mount Zion.” 

Verses 19-22, I’m not going to touch, but it’s amazing to me that the people of God actually revert to this. Here it is: “And when they shall say unto you, seek unto them that have familiar spirits and unto the wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? For the living to the dead? To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. And they shall pass through it, hardly bestead and hungry: and it shall come to pass, that when they shall be hungry, they shall fret themselves, and curse their king and their God, and look upward. And they shall look unto the earth; and behold trouble and darkness”– it seemed to be getting like this– “and dimness of anguish; and they shall be driven to darkness.” 

I love chapter 9, verse 1, same thought, “Nevertheless the dimness shall not be such as was in her vexation, when at the first he lightly afflicted the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, and afterward did more grievously afflict her by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, and the Galilee of the nations.”

Verse 2, love it. Matthew will quote it in his Gospel. Verse 2, “The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined”– beautiful. 

Let’s pray, Father. I just thank You for, well, You know this, the incredible honor and privilege, as I’ve voiced many, many times, for Linda and I to be Yours, number one, obviously. But for You to destine our time, to be here in this generation, at this time period, with hope beyond hope. It is our honor to be part of Vintage, the Sanders family, as we’ve already said. This morning, let the revelation of Jesus Christ be ours, the stone, the rock, and the great light. May we embrace You and see You in ways we never saw You before. May a faith and a hope and an embrace of You come this morning in ways we never dreamed of. All ages begin with Me. It’s our passion. We want You. Father, thank You for that in Jesus name, Amen.

DO NOT BE AFRAID

I love the moment because it’s not just the last five years. I’ve needed this for twenty years, twenty-five years, maybe. And I love this emotion about our Bible, the prophet Isaiah, this priest, this incredible prophet– probably the most prolific prophet of all in the Messianic way– is struggling. He’s getting those conspiracy theories, like I got seventeen of them this morning. And it’s a real fearful thing. Well, how could the king of Israel come against us? What about Syria? What about my home? What about my family? What about my future? What am I going to do? What are we going to do? What’s going on here? 

And in this moment of great fear– which is reality– I love this about our God, He breaks in on it. Only He could do it. And with a strong candidate, in a way, it weakens Isaiah because he realizes the strength of his God and what He’s about to declare. With a strong hand, He says to me, Listen, stay out of the conspiracies. Don’t get involved in them. Don’t even listen to them. Don’t even look to them. And I love what He says, “Do not fear their fear or be afraid.” Can I say to us this morning, here in Fort Collins, Colorado, no matter what the state decides, no matter what the nation decides, Do not be afraid. Do not fear. 

And He begins to instruct him– it’s a real Hebraic way, though– He says to him, “sanctify the Lord of hosts.” What a word. What it means is this: no matter where you have Him, no matter how you see Him, take Him and put Him forefront; no matter where you’re looking, look through Him; no matter what you see, see through Him; no matter what you’re feeling, feel through Him; no matter if you’re looking down, look through Him; looking up, look through Him. Look through Him. No matter what’s going on with our children, look through Him; no matter what’s going on in our nation, look through Him; no matter how it feels this morning or next week or yesterday or next year, look through Him. Let Him be the lens that we peer through when we look at everything. 

And I love these terms. I grew up in a church where we were supposed to be afraid of Him. Let the Lord be your fear. Isaiah uses a different word, here’s what it means. He would look back and he goes, Huh, yeah, let me see. We sang it this morning, this awe in this thing. Yeah, let me see, creation? Yeah, He was. But we didn’t know Him. What about Noah, yeah, that was a real deal, yeah, I mean. But we didn’t know Him. How about Abraham, a dead guy? Yeah, yeah, him and his wife, yo, how about that? I mean, a hundred and ninety-nine? That’s pretty cool, I like that. I’m moving for that, Linda, just so you know, baby right here, but we still haven’t seen Him. Oh, yeah, wait a minute, that’s right, I remember: they were slaves in a nation that mistreated them, and they cried out to a God they didn’t know. He knew that they would be hard-hearted, they would resist Him their whole lives. 

But He’s this kind of God. He heard their cry, found Big Mo. Says, Big Mo, I’m about to free them up. And he says, Yeah, You don’t really, You don’t really get this thing. We don’t even know who You are. We’re not sure You have the power. We’re not sure You hear. He goes, Huh? Just wait a minute. I’m going to show you something. This isn’t the end, bro. This is the beginning of something. And He, with a demonstration of power, ten incredible power moves, delivered them without a fight, without a gun, without a spear. And they took whatever they wanted. They got to that Red Sea. You remember it? They couldn’t. It was unpassable. They looked at Big Mo. Big Mo said, I don’t know what to do. And the Lord said, Listen, you can just stand still, baby. You’re gonna see salvation like you never saw before. And that night, He released an east wind and blew the Red Sea wide open. 

LET HIM BE YOUR AWE

I want you to know, let Him be your awe, because He is awesome. Then he uses this next word, which I love. You see why I needed this? Yeah, yeah. He uses this word: “dread.” I mean, the English word “dread” is brutal. I couldn’t understand this either, but here’s what he means. I gotta take it back in Isaiah’s life. Just go forward, just a bit. I’m almost eighteen years ahead, and Isaiah, like me, is struggling. Do You not hear me out of Your holy habitation? Where is Your zeal, where’s Your strengths? Where are You? And he finally switches over in the sixty-fourth chapter, and he goes, “Oh if you would just rend the heavens and come down, the mountains would melt, the rivers would boil, the nations would be scattered throughout the earth.” 

And then he says, whoa, whoa, whoa, man. We expected You to do something; we didn’t expect what no eye had ever seen, no ear has never heard, no one knows in the heart of any man, what You did. I want you to know He’s about to do something we’ve never seen before. Let Him be your expectation. Let Him be our awe. 

I’m awed by what You’ve accomplished here. I cried when I saw the building on the outside. What’s going on? I know them. Just beautiful places, generational place. I’m in awe. I’m in awe of our world, our technology, everything about our world, I’m in awe. But I gotta tell you, I’m awed by Him. Not just what He’s done, what He is and intends to do. 

I gotta tell you, I got this expectation. I don’t know, you know, because our Bible is kind of weird sometimes. Abraham, he never doubted; he knew for sure at a hundred what He had promised, He was able to perform it. I know this though, that this God, whatever He said He’ll do, He will do it. Let Him be our awe. 

GOD IS A SANCTUARY

So, Isaiah is starting to feel a little bit like me now. Isaiah has got that little priestly step back going, Huh, yeah. What about the conspiracies? Naw, shut the phone off, shut the TV. I don’t need this stuff. I got enough going on here. Yeah, okay. And then the Lord begins to instruct him. I love this word, these two messianic, prophetic words about this coming One– we’ll talk about that at the end. Then I love what He says, “I’ll be a sanctuary.” 

I want you to know, please, this is a house for this. We’re going to see so many things in this new covenant that we’ve never experienced. But He has opened up a way for you and I to be with Him as not a place to hide or a place to get away from the world, but a place that we can come and behold Him Who sits upon the throne, grace and mercy, and see the face of the One Who’s gone before us, the firstborn of us all, because in His face is the knowledge of the glory of God, and He has made a way up here. 

This is this sanctuary, this Heavenly place; it’s ours. And in the midst of this, I cannot live without it. I was never supposed to live without it. I’m not afraid of this world, but I cannot survive this world without living in that world. It’s supposed to be that way, especially as a man, especially as a man. 

BIND UP THE TESTIMONY

Then I love this, he says “bind up the testimony and the law to my disciples.” I immediately when I saw that, I thought for sure he’s talking about Moses’ law. It isn’t. Please hear this, let me just say this and we’ll move on. He says, Take my disciples, my learned ones, the ones who want to grow and be taught and become just like me, take them and have them embrace what I’m saying out of the prophetic word. Embrace what the prophetic voice is declaring. 

Don’t look at Jay Leroux; Jay Leroux is not the prophetic voice. I’m just simply another donkey on the stage, just another clay pot. I’m not talking about me. I’m talking about when He is speaking out of His living Word to a generation that needs to hear Him of what He intends to do, bind it up, hold on to it, grip it. I certainly do it; it’s part of my responsibility just hearing Him, not just for our lives, for the church world, for where I’m to be. I’ve got to hear that. This is it. I’ve got to hear Him out of this. But He wants to speak. He loves to speak, not just to me, to us. And He says, Listen, not only bind that up, but take the prophetic writings and hold on to them no matter what this world’s doing; this is an eternal word, that’s a temporal one. 

WAITING UPON THE LORD

We sang it today, He loves the world. Then Isaiah– I love this moment– he responds, which I like. It’s normal when I’m in a bad way, in a bad day, when He comes into my life like this, which I gotta have sometimes, more than I realize, I respond to it. In Isaiah, here he is, he responds back after this struggling in this fearful moment, this uncertainty for his own children, his wife, his kids, his future, the city of Jerusalem, the whole world’s resting upon this. This amazing God breaks in on the scene and alters his direction, alters his sight. Here is his response. I love these words, he says, “I will wait upon the Lord.” 

I love the term because, you know, I fly a lot, so does Pastor G, so my English understanding of waiting is this: Starbucks line– and I don’t wait well. One person in front of me, I’m like, could you hurry it up a little bit? I mean, when’s this likely to change? That’s just me. This is not the Word. 

His waiting is this. Sometimes people ask me, So Jay, how long you been waiting for certain things? Forty-six years. Really? How do you wait that long? I’ve been saved for three months, and I’m already sick and tired of when the Lord is going to do it. Oh, no. I want you to know something, He has faithfully promised. Just wait, just wait, just wait, He will do it. Just wait. 

But wait like this. I’m sorry, I try to calm it down a little bit personality-wise. My grandkids like it a lot, though. And so I got this thing, I need to be careful. I don’t want to run anybody around. I want to just be an encouragement this morning. But I’ve got to wait like this. I got a sister who hasn’t come in yet. I’ve got nephews I haven’t seen for years. I’ve got things He spoke to me when I was a younger man, and now that I’m older, He speaks more. That makes it more difficult because I might have to wait longer. So how do you wait? Of course, Linda prefers when we go to bed. I don’t wait like that. 

Then he says– I love this, it’s a beautiful word–  “I will look for the Lord.” Love the phrase. Here it is. It is literally this, because He’s hiding His face from the house of Jacob, which is unreal language, can’t touch it. I want to say to you, though, if you’re in the valley, look for Him. If you’re on the mountaintop this morning, look for Him. If you’re standing in darkness, look for Him. If you’re standing in doubt, look for Him. If you’re standing in the absolute light, look for Him. No matter what’s going on in your life, look for Him. I love it. 

SIGNS AND WONDERS

Then Isaiah says this– I love it, I want to finish here– “I and the children you have given me are for signs and for wonders.” Let me just make this last part clear: Isaiah’s children, their names meant something to a degree there. There are three prophetic words about the Messiah here. This is probably one of them that we leave out. Can I say it this way? I have no doubt that He’s returning the signs and the wonders to this generation, not just three people, four churches, one nation. No, no, no, to His people at every level.

I can’t wait to send our five girls to school. Go. But should I be scared? Nah. Keep your eyes on the Lord, just trust Him, wait for Him. And did you tell me your principal has cancer? Yeah, here mommy put a little cupcake in there, bring it to her, lay hands on her. But go back to class and be a good student. We want to revolutionize the world? There it is. Our school systems? There it is. He’s returning the signs and wonders. We’ve got to have it. 

Here’s been the problem, though: every revival, at every degree of refreshing, every reformation– whatever you want to name it– we had the signs and the wonders, but we never became the signs and the wonders. Can’t have it. 

So you know this man, when He walks the earth, there’s nobody like Him. Raises three from the dead, after one year, probably ten to seventeen, maybe almost twenty thousand are following Him, dude walks on water, multiplies bread. And if He was living in California, they wouldn’t like this, though, because He’s turning water into wine, that would not be good in California. This is our business. You got to go somewhere else. Go to New York and do that. Don’t stay here and do that. I mean, He was incredible. We know that. He revolutionized the world. But when Jesus came, He was the sign and the wonder. He was this cornerstone. 

JESUS BRINGS A NEW KINGDOM

They looked for Him and looked for Him, and when He came, they couldn’t deal with Him because He made Himself of no reputation. Wait, wait, wait, we’re talking about God? Yeah, we’re talking about what the Divine nature really is. He makes Himself of no reputation, takes on the form of a bond slave. Yeah, God’s gonna wash the feet of Judas? That would never happen. Oh yeah? This is a whole new Kingdom. 

He’s made just like us. See, sometimes we still struggle with that, just like me. He understands, He understands my flesh battles, He understands my mental battles, He doesn’t have this sin nature. That was what He didn’t have. When I got born again, I got a blood transfusion, and I don’t have to, nor do we have to, give in to my sin nature. Even though I battle it every single day, it doesn’t have to rule me. 

Then He lived like us. I couldn’t even begin to talk about what it was like to have an occupying Rome in Nazareth. So here’s this man walking around. You would think that nation would influence Him, oh no, He’s not. He’s influenced by one Kingdom, that one, because He knew He was bringing a Kingdom the world had never known. Please, I want to say to you, we’re bringing a Kingdom the world has never seen, and the church is desperately in need to see her again. 

Not only that, He humbles Himself. Is this enough? Then He’s obedient all the way till His death. You know, sometimes I don’t want to be obedient, then I remember this. Yeah, I could skip that light, don’t do this stuff. This man, His whole life, to death on the cross. See, that was the One they were to be transformed into. Instead, the builders rejected Him. He is reestablishing the cornerstone back in our lives and in the life of the church, because He will have a temple with the apostles and prophets in the foundation after Him, just like Him, that He might not just visit us, my friends, but He might dwell here. We’ve never known it before. And certainly, this place is a determination of His to dwell here, where He can visit us and revive us– I’m thankful for everything He’s done, but we want the dwelling of God. We’ve never had it– ever– until He was there. 

THE ROCK THE CHURCH IS BUILD UPON

Second thing is this rock. Let me just play for a moment. Jesus for a year and a half almost, just chilling, and He goes, Hey, yo. They said, huh? So what’s the Tweets? You know? What’s FB saying about me? What’s the news? You watching Max TV? Judas, what do you think? Huh? Judas, I’m talking to you, stop counting the money. What are they saying about me? Oh, well, some say You’re Elijah, some say Jeremiah, and Peter says, Whoa, whoa, whoa, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. Jesus goes, Huh, Peter? You know Peter? No way flesh and blood can reveal that. My Father in Heaven revealed it. Upon this rock, the revelation of the One who came and to establish a covenant and a power we have never known– let me just finish– upon this rock, I build my church. The gates of Hell shall not prevail. 

I don’t care much about Hell, but I know this though: gates don’t move and Hell’s taken some of our family– we’re going to get them back. The gates of Hell shall not prevail against it. But then Jesus freaks me out. He goes, Yo, Pete. What? I got the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven. Whoa, what’s this Kingdom of Heaven thing? Wait, these guys have cast out devils, these guys have performed miracles. So what’s this new thing? You mean there are things in the Kingdom of Heaven yet to be unlocked. “And whatsoever is bound in Heaven, you’ll bind it on the earth.” What kind of authority is this? “Whatsoever you loosened in the Heavens is loosened on the earth.” How will I know it’s loose in the Heavens if we don’t have access to it? He wants to return a power to the church we have never known. 

THE GREAT LIGHT

The final thing then I’m done. The great light– I love this moment. You don’t mind me playing a little? John’s baptizing, he’s thinking, what happened to that twelve-year-old? I thought for sure He was the Messiah. He’s just kind of glancing; he looks, and he goes, Wow, yo, behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. They looked. Isaiah will describe Him as boring-looking. He might even have had a couple zits at thirty years old. I mean, He was so beyond– you wouldn’t even recognize Him in a crowd, you wouldn’t even recognize Him. He didn’t have a name. He was so average, and they looked, and they thought, Are you sure? They couldn’t see Him.

He was the express image of His Father. He was the full manifestation of the splendor, the beauty, and the majesty. The glory of God was no longer in a mountain, hiding Himself and fearing people. No, no. This doxa came that it would draw men, draw women, draw sinners, draw children, draw men who didn’t believe He exists; that we would not run from God, but we’d run to Him, and in running to Him, we’d see Him and behold Him, and our lives would be transformed. He always promised that the glory of God would not only be in us but the whole earth would be filled with it. That was the great light they saw. 

Our world was getting darker, and He knew it. And His intent was, I’m going to do something in that generation. I’m restoring the rock that they will look into My people and behold Me– the cornerstone– and they will see the covenant that I made with My people– the Father and Son– they will experience its fullness. And I want to see My glory once again revealed to My people. Here’s why: that they will know I sent You and that they might be one, just like We’re One.

A WORD FOR THIS GENERATION

I want to do this, couple things. We’ll do some prophecy and things like that; we got some time for that. But as long as I don’t realize it, it makes it easier for me because I have to eat it first, and that tastes real good to me. It was manna– a gift– that He would choose this generation to begin something. Our kids haven’t seen anything yet. Our grandkids have no idea what they’re about to experience. But this morning, if you’re struggling, I wish I can say to you that every time He came to my life and said, Jay, here, I want to reveal this portion of My Son to you, whether it’s His love or His forgiveness or His passion or His bond slavery or His obedience, I wish I could say to you, Oh, yeah. I sometimes pushed back, resisted. 

I know this, though: if a whole generation resisted Him, any generation can– any generation. So I’m very conscious that Jay Leroux is not floating in the earth. I’m very conscious– not fearfully at all– but I don’t want to reject You. And as You’re coming to establish the sign and the wonder in our lives again, help me to be submissive to Your work. Help me to choose You over me. Help us to become everything You determine will be in this generation. 

So I want to pray for you, then I’ll move away from this. Sometimes I just got to wake up and I just lay on my face– and He knows– I need You. He just applies the grace, and I’m a different man. Aren’t you thankful? If this is you this morning, you say, you know, Lord, establish in my life– my wife, yes, my kids, yes– just start with me. Set the stone. Here, You be the cornerstone. Let my life resemble You. Set the rock in here that I come to know the fullness of Your promise. Let the great light come to me. Let me see You this way. That my family will know You and that the blind will see. And as You altered Your generation, and still alter generations, let this be a turning point for not only the American history, but for the world history, in regards to the Kingdom of God. 

I got my hand raised because I need that. Anyone else? So, Father, you see, this morning, thank You for allowing me to share. I had too much fun really, with it. But it’s a reality. Thank You for allowing the prophet Isaiah to walk through this, that time period, that life. Only You can take a historical moment and make it a present truth. Lord, lay within my life– our lives– a passion, an appetite, a palette for You, above our own, above anything else. I know this, though, Lord, You’re not afraid to enlarge us in every imaginable way, I have no problem with that. But please, let it be You as preeminent. So, Father, I thank You for that. In Jesus’ name, amen. How about giving the Lord a hand for me?