Times Of Refreshing | Pastor Landon Few

[0:00] Acts chapter 3 and verse 19. The word of the Lord says this, Repent, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing.

[0:27] Somebody say times of refreshing. So that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord. Repent, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.

[0:48] Let's pray. Father, in Jesus' name, I thank you for the opportunity to deliver your word. I thank you, God, for how you've already moved on our hearts this morning.

[1:04] God, that you've already opened our hearts to receive your word. I pray, God, that this seed this morning would fall on good ground, that it would bear fruit, God, that is worthy of a disciple of Jesus Christ.

[1:20] I pray, God, that you would have your way in us, that you would have your way through us. Speak through your word and help me preach this message. In Jesus' name. And everybody said, Amen.

[1:31] I want to talk to you for a few moments this morning. I won't take long, but from the subject of times of refreshing. Times of refreshing.

[1:45] If I can read you a simple definition of the word refresh, a couple of definitions says this.

[1:56] The first one says, To give new strength or energy to something. To give new strength or energy to something.

[2:07] Another definition that I want to read, and I really like this one. It's simple. It says, To make something fresh again. To refresh is to make something fresh again.

[2:25] I'm not sure what kind of week you've gone through. I'm not sure what this season of your life has looked like, but I just believe, I have enough faith to believe that God can make whatever you're going through fresh again.

[2:43] I don't know if you've been emotionally and mentally drained and exhausted. I don't know what you've been up against, what your job looks like, what your marriage looks like, what your ministry looks like, but I just believe that God can make it new again.

[3:03] That the same God that saved you can refresh you. That the same God that gave you life last time can give you life again.

[3:14] I have enough faith to believe that before we get out of here, you can be refreshed, renewed, and revived in every area of your life.

[3:24] I don't know if the enemy's been attacking you, but if he has, I'm going to say right now and declare that the enemy cannot have a stronghold on the people of God.

[3:36] He cannot have your mind. He cannot have your heart. He cannot have your spirit. He cannot have your marriage. He cannot have your home. God is a God who brings a refreshing.

[3:50] Does anybody believe that this morning? Repent, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.

[4:07] It's, uh, what comes to my mind when I hear the word refreshing is, is on a hot summer day when you're out working or doing something outside, and it's hot, and you're sweating, and you come inside, uh, to get a cold glass of water.

[4:22] It's refreshing. And if you, uh, have been in church any period of time, you probably understand that water is symbolic of the Holy Spirit.

[4:32] And I just believe that even if you've been outside in bad circumstances, and you've been exhausted, that you can come into this house this morning, and receive a refreshing from the presence of God.

[4:46] But it's up to you, because you get out what you put in. You get out what you put in. Revelation chapter 2 verse 5. It says, Remember therefore from where you have fallen.

[5:06] Repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place unless you repent.

[5:21] Repent and do the first works. Every once in a while in our walk with Christ, when we find ourselves going through the motions, coming to church, and singing the songs, and saying amen, and going through the motions, we've got to repent and do our first works over again.

[5:42] Because you can do the right thing with the wrong heart. You can come to the house of God and do the right thing, but you've lost your first love.

[5:54] Repent and do the first works over again. So this morning, I want to give you four prerequisites of refreshing.

[6:07] Four prerequisites of refreshing. Number one, repentance precedes refreshing.

[6:21] Repentance precedes refreshing. The verse that we started with says, repent. It starts off with the word, repent, and then it goes on to say at the end, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.

[6:38] So repentance precedes refreshing. I think that in the church world today, that repentance has become a negative word.

[6:51] But from God's perspective, repentance is a beautiful thing. Because repentance is not rebuke. Repentance is an invitation. Repentance is an invitation.

[7:02] Repentance is an invitation. God gives you an opportunity to repent so that you can come into a relationship with Him. So if you feel the Lord leading you to repent over a lifestyle or repent over the life that you've been living, it's not because He's pushing you away.

[7:19] And sometimes that's how church people can make us feel, especially when they preach on repentance. But I want you to understand that repentance is not rebuke. Repentance is an invitation into a closer walk with the Lord.

[7:34] So I want you to change your perspective on the word repentance. So repentance precedes refreshing. The word repent, if you study it, it means the change of mind.

[7:50] To change your mind. And I'm not talking about changing your mind in the sense of, well, I was going to wear green this morning, but I decided to wear red.

[8:00] No, that's not the type of changing of the mind that I'm talking about. I'm talking about you thought like a sinner, but now God has changed the way that you think.

[8:12] And your whole outlook on life is different because you've had a change of mind. You've had a change of mind.

[8:23] You've had a change of mind about sin and you've had a change of mind about Christ. So your old lifestyle, you were loving sin and hating Christ.

[8:38] But now in your new lifestyle, you love Christ and hate sin. It's a renewing of the mind. Ephesians chapter 4, starting at verse 20 through verse 24, says this, But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus, that you put off concerning your former conduct, the old man, which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind.

[9:32] Be renewed in the spirit of your mind. This is what repentance looks like, to be renewed in the spirit of your mind.

[9:45] And that you put on the new man, which was created according to God in true righteousness and holiness.

[9:57] Verse 23, Ephesians 4, 23, in another translation says it like this, and be continually renewed in the spirit of your mind, having a fresh, untarnished, mental and spiritual attitude.

[10:15] Having a fresh, untarnished, mental and spiritual attitude. You've got to change how you think.

[10:26] You've got to sit down and open up your Bible, Monday through Saturday, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind. So if I can teach for just a moment.

[10:40] Just like God is a trinity, He made you in His image, and you are also a three-part being. You are spirit, soul, and body.

[10:54] He said you are spirit, you are soul, and you are body. We oftentimes use the term spirit and soul interchangeably as if they are the same thing.

[11:06] Your spirit and your soul are not the same thing. Your spirit is where you got born again, the moment that you gave your life to Jesus. But your soul is your mind, your will, and your emotions.

[11:22] Let me say that again. Your soul is your mind, your will, and your emotions. Your emotions. So oftentimes, Christians will still struggle with certain habits, or certain sins, or certain lifestyles, even after they give their life to Jesus, because their spirit was changed in a moment, but their soul still thinks like a sinner.

[11:45] So this is why the Bible says in Romans chapter 12, verse 2, to be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Salvation happened in your spirit in a moment, but transformation is a process.

[12:03] Sanctification is a process. So your spirit was born again. Your spirit was made perfect in Christ, but your soul still has to be renewed. Your mind still has to be renewed, and it's a process.

[12:19] 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 17 says, Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature.

[12:31] He is a new creation. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things have become new. Your thinking, the way you think, is important.

[12:46] Many people think that the Bible is just a spiritual book, but the Bible is a mind book. The Bible is also a thinking book. You've got to get the Word of God in your mind to change your perspective, to change how you look at situations, to not just look with the natural eye, but to look with the spiritual eye.

[13:08] If you could get to a place where your mind has been so renewed by the Word of God, you would come against battles in a whole different perspective. You wouldn't look at battles in the way that you looked at them in the past.

[13:24] You would look at it in the sense that God is allowing this to take me to another place in Him. Y'all ain't helping me preach this morning. Y'all are quiet. But God allows certain things.

[13:35] He may not send the storm, but He will use the storm for my good and for His glory. So I don't get upset. I don't get down and out when I'm up against a new battle.

[13:46] I just view it as another opportunity for God to show Himself strong. I view it as another opportunity for God to get the glory again and again and again.

[13:57] And sometimes He will allow things that are too big for my own doing. Because if He only allowed me to go through things that were enough for me to handle, then He would never get the credit when He brings me out.

[14:11] But He will purposefully allow you to go through things that are too big for you to handle in your own strength so that when God gives you the victory, you can't take the credit for it.

[14:23] But only God in His strength can take the credit for what He did for you. Amen. You've got to change your perspective. You've got to change the way that you think.

[14:36] You've got to change the way that you approach situations in your life. You've got to be renewed in the spirit of your mind. Salvation can happen instantaneously, but transformation is a process and it depends on the renewing of your mind.

[14:55] Repentance, changing the way you think, changing your mind, precedes refreshing. Your life, I want to tell you this morning that your life will always go in the direction of your strongest thoughts.

[15:11] Your life will follow your mindset. So your mind goes there before your actions go there. You meditate on the sin before you commit the sin.

[15:24] There is no such thing as accidentally committing sin. We talk about where we fell into temptation. No, you stepped into temptation. You walked into it.

[15:36] You meditated on it. And because you didn't take that thought captive, it became an action. You've got to take every thought captive and bring it into the obedience of Christ.

[15:52] You've got to take the lies that hit your mind and speak truth in place of them. So when the enemy speaks to your mind and says you're not enough, you say I'm above and not beneath.

[16:08] I'm the lender, not the borrower. I'm the head and not the tail. You've got to combat the lies of the enemy with the truth of the word of God. And when you learn to do that, you will change the way that you think.

[16:24] Repentance precedes refreshing. Number two, remembering precedes refreshing.

[16:36] refreshing. Remembering precedes refreshing. Let me read Revelation chapter 2 verse 5 again.

[16:47] Revelation 2 verse 5. It starts off with the word remember. It says, remember therefore from where you have fallen.

[17:01] Repent and do the first works. so you've got to remember the fact that you've fallen. You've got to recognize that you've fallen if you're going to repent. Because why would you repent over something that you don't even recognize you've done wrong?

[17:18] Remember from where you have fallen. Repent and do the first works or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place unless you repent.

[17:31] Go now to 2 Peter chapter 1. 2 Peter chapter 1 8 through 9.

[17:45] It says this For if these things are yours and abound you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

[18:05] For he who lacks these things is short sighted. He can only see right in front of him. He can only see to his circumstances.

[18:16] He can't see beyond that. Even to blindness and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.

[18:26] sins. He has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins. What a dangerous place to find yourself in.

[18:39] That you have forgotten that God has cleansed you from your old sins and from your old lifestyle. If you ever get to a place in your walk with Christ where you forget that Jesus brought you out of sin and muck and mire that is the same moment that pride will sneak into your heart.

[19:04] And pride comes before the what? The fall. And you've got to constantly remember and be aware of the fact that if it had not been for Jesus who was on my side if it had not been for the goodness of Jesus I wouldn't be anywhere near where I am today it was nothing but the blood of Jesus that brought me from a mighty mighty long way.

[19:33] Is anybody thankful that you're not you might not be where you want to be but sure you are not where you used to be and if you thank God for saving you and bringing you out of a lifestyle of sin you ought to stand up to your feet take about 10 to 15 seconds and give God the best praise that you've got for taking you out of a lifestyle of sin and bringing you into his marvelous light.

[20:02] Come on somebody give God praise in this place. Hallelujah. I thank God for saving me. Amen. Amen. God we give you praise in this place.

[20:15] We thank you for bringing us a mighty long way. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you. if it had not been for the goodness of Jesus and all that he's done for me.

[20:26] I don't know where I would be. It was nothing but his goodness. It was nothing but his grace. It was nothing but the blood of Jesus. I thank God that I was on my way to a devil's hell.

[20:39] But God stepped in right in the nick of time and saved me and brought me into a relationship with him. Does anybody believe that this morning?

[20:56] Thank you Jesus. Second Peter chapter three. Second Peter chapter three. Starting at verse one.

[21:12] Second Peter chapter three. Verse one. I'm going to read through verse nine. It says beloved I now write to you this second epistle in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder.

[21:33] Sometimes if you can just recall to your mind the battles that he's brought you out of this battle that you're up against wouldn't seem so big. It wouldn't seem so scary.

[21:44] It wouldn't seem so intimidating because I killed a lion and I killed a bear. Goliath you don't scare me. I remember that God helped me then and God can help me now.

[21:56] If you can recall to your mind the things that God has brought you out of. See sometimes you've got to get stirred up by remembering. I stir you up by way of reminder that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Savior knowing this first that scoffers will come in the last days walking according to their own lusts and saying where is the promise of his coming for since the fathers fell asleep all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation for this they willfully forget they willfully forget that by the word of God the heavens were of old and the earth standing out of water and in the water by which the world that then existed perished being flooded with water but the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men but beloved do not forget this one thing that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years is as one day the Lord is not slack concerning his promise as some count slackness but is long suffering toward us not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance

[23:50] God forbid that we ever come to a place and our walk with him that we think it was us who got us here that it was our own righteousness and our own good deeds and our own godliness that got us to the place that we are at now because surely when you hit that place you will find yourself backsliding I don't care how far you get in your walk with Christ it is only him it is only God that brought you there you have got to recall to your mind the things that he brought you out of you have got to recall to your mind not not living in the past but remembering what he's done in the past because if you remember what he's done in the past it will totally change your future it will totally change what you're up against it will totally walk going forward number one repentance precedes refreshing number two remembering precedes refreshing number three community precedes refreshing go to

[25:09] Hebrews chapter 10 Hebrews chapter 10 chapter chapter 20 I'm going to start at verse 24 24 and 25 it says and let us consider one another we don't do that very often in the body of Christ we're just worried about me and mine let us consider one another just just think about somebody else's needs. Don't live in your own little bubble and in your own little world. Let's be the church. Not just go to church. Let's be the church. Let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as is the manner or as is the habit of some, but exhorting or encouraging one another and so much the more as you see the day approaching. I love, I want to say this, I love the fact that we have such a excellent online ministry. I thank God for it. I have communicated and texted back and forth with individuals who literally, believe it or not, literally live in other countries and they know what's going on at Set Free Church. I thank God that, yeah, let's give it up for our production team.

[27:02] Amen. So I thank God that we can take this life-changing gospel to the ends of the world via technology. However, there is something about the in-person gathering that you cannot replace.

[27:23] There is something about gathering together with believers in the body of Christ that you cannot replace. There is something that you get from me and there is something that I get from you that I can't get sitting on a couch watching a live stream. And I thank God for that. If you're not able or if you're out of town, it definitely serves its purposes. But if you are able to make it to the house of God and you intentionally decide not to, that is where the issue lies because iron sharpens iron. We are all members of the body of Christ. We are all individual members of the body of Christ. And when a member separates itself from the rest of the body, it is not the body that dies. It is the member that dies.

[28:17] If you're, if you were to lose your, one of your fingers, the finger would die, not the rest of the body. It is the, it is the individual member who separates himself or herself that suffers. And it is oftentimes an issue of pride that makes us think that we don't need the gathering, that we don't need the body, that we don't need each other. It is it. We think that we can just, uh, have a relationship with God on our own by ourself. And you can have a relationship with God by yourself. But I want you to understand and learn that God uses people. I said, God uses people. I don't know why he set it up that way, but he set it up that way. And God uses individuals. And there are some things that God wants to use other people to bless you with that you won't be able to access outside of the body of

[29:17] Christ. I tell people that if you want to grow closer to God, you need to do two things. Number one, you need to spend time with God alone, but you need to spend time with God with other people.

[29:33] You need both of them. It's not one or the other. It's dangerous to only have one or the other. It's dangerous to spend time with God alone, but never have accountability in other people.

[29:44] But it's dangerous to only spend time with God with other people, but never get in your secret place and never get in your prayer closet. So you need to spend time with God alone and you need to spend time with God with other people. We need this gathering. We need each other. There is something powerful when we worship corporately. There is something powerful when we worship together.

[30:14] There is a such thing as contagious praise. And if I ever come in one day and I don't feel like lifting up my hands and opening up my mouth and giving God praise, your praise might give me my breakthrough. And if you ever come in one day and you don't feel like praising Jesus, my praise can open up doors in your life and, and my praise can break chains off of your life. It was the praise of Paul and Silas that opened up the prison doors of everybody in the entire prison. There are some chains that will remain on your life until you understand the importance of corporate worship and corporate praise. Your praise is contagious. My praise is contagious. There's something that if I can just find one praiser on each row, I just think that the whole row can get set free. I said, if I can just find one praiser on it. I said, if I can just find one praiser on each row, there is a breakthrough that can hit everybody on the entire row. If you can open up your mouth, lift up your hands and give God the highest praise. There is a breakthrough that can hit the person to your left and a breakthrough that can hit the person to your right. Does anybody believe that in this place this morning? Amen. Amen. There's something powerful and something significant that happens when we gather together and worship God with people that don't look like us. There's something powerful that happens when we get in one place and worship God with people that don't act like us, that people, with people that have a different expression of worship with people that come from a different background. I don't want to worship God in a room full of people that look like me. I want to get next to people that have a different background and have a different skin color and come from a different place and worship God in one place and in one accord because that is where unity happens. If we all looked the same and acted the same, that would be uniformity, not unity. I'm not looking for uniformity. I want unity in the body of

[32:35] Christ. You've got to be able to worship God beside people that don't look like you and don't act like you and don't come from where you come from. And sometimes I see it a lot and I've even been in a place at points in my life where I can get distracted by other people's praise and it keeps me from entering into the presence of God and you get distracted by the person that's sitting to your left and to your right. And, and, and sometimes we even say things like, oh, well, so-and-so smells like cigarettes and, and, and, and I don't know why they're in the house of God because they smell like alcohol. Well, well, and they smell like weed, but, but you smell like pride. And, and, and I, and I understand that. Yeah. And if we could get out of this mindset of thinking that Jesus is only here for me and my kind, we might just see breakthrough and we might just see revival and we might just see God pour his spirit out. And if you can praise God for blessing son, David danced and he looked like a fool, but it was that praise that got him the breakthrough that he needed. Amen. Amen. I said, I feel Jesus in this place. I feel like praising him. I said, I feel like praising him. It feels real good in here. I said, I feel like giving him praise and I feel like giving him glory because something might just happen when we give Jesus praise. Hallelujah. Amen. Be seated. Be seated.

[34:16] Be seated. Amen. I won't stop you. If you want to praise him, I said, I won't stop you. If you want to praise him, we can pause the service right here. I said, I don't even got to finish what I'm trying to say.

[34:35] We can pause it right here. I said, we can pause it right here and give God a shout of praise. We can give God a shout of praise. Your breakthrough might be locked up in your praise. Your breakthrough might be locked up in your ability to give God glory and your ability to give God praise.

[34:54] When you open up your mouth and speak the word of God, something will change and shift in your life. Amen. Amen. Let me finish.

[35:09] One more point. One more point. One more point. The praise team can go ahead and make their way back. Point number four.

[35:23] Worship precedes refreshing. Worship precedes refreshing.

[35:36] 1 Samuel chapter 16. 1 Samuel chapter 16. Starting at verse 14.

[35:53] 1 Samuel 16 verse 14. Verse 14.

[36:03] But the spirit of the Lord departed from Saul. And a distressing spirit from the Lord troubled him.

[36:14] And Saul's servants said to him, Surely a distressing spirit from God is troubling you.

[36:27] Let our master now command your servants who are before you to seek out a man who is a skillful player on the harp.

[36:39] And it shall be that he will play it with his hand when the distressing spirit from God is upon you. And you shall be well.

[36:52] So Saul said to his servants, Provide me now a man who can play well and bring him to me. Then one of the servants answered and said, Look, I have seen a son of Jesse who is skillful in playing, a mighty man of valor, a man of war, prudent in speech, and a handsome person.

[37:19] And the Lord is with him. And the Lord is with him. Therefore, Saul sent messengers to Jesse and said, Send me your son David who is with the sheep.

[37:38] I love that. Send me your son David who is with the sheep. I want the shepherd boy, the one who cares nothing except caring for the sheep.

[37:53] Send me him. Send me David who is with the sheep. not the one who cares about the spotlight, not the one who wants the position, not the one who wants the title.

[38:04] Send me the one who is caring for the sheep. That is who I want. And Jesse took a donkey loaded with bread, a skin of wine, and a young goat, and sent them by his son David to Saul.

[38:21] So David came to Saul and stood before him. And he loved him greatly. Then he became his armor bearer. Then Saul sent to Jesse saying, Please let David stand before me for he has found favor in my sight.

[38:40] And so it was whenever the spirit from God was upon Saul that David would take a harp and play it with his hand. Then Saul would become refreshed.

[38:53] Let me say that again. Then Saul would become refreshed and well. And the distressing spirit would depart from him.

[39:05] Worship precedes refreshing. I've heard people say things like when people are preaching and the keys and the organ are playing, they think it's emotionalism.

[39:19] But I want to remind you that there's an anointing on the instruments. When you can play as unto the Lord, demons can flee. I said, when you play as unto the Lord, demons will flee.

[39:34] Whenever the distressing spirit troubled Saul, David would play as unto the Lord and that spirit would flee. Worship precedes refreshing.

[39:47] I want to tell you that it is important and necessary and vital that you fill your house with worship. That even as you're cleaning and doing things that you do throughout the day, that you would have worship music played.

[40:02] That you would fill your house with worship. On the day of Pentecost, the spirit of God filled the house before he filled the people. I said he filled the house before he filled the people.

[40:20] I want to tell you this morning that what you live in will eventually live in you. What you live in will eventually live in you.

[40:32] If you want to be a person of worship, a person who oozes with praise and worship and thanksgiving to God, live in it. Every time you get in the car and drive down the road, put worship music on.

[40:48] Get it in you so that it can come out of you. Stand to your feet all over this place. I want you to know this morning that we don't worship God.

[41:14] I'm talking about this last point. We don't worship God only if. We worship God even though.

[41:26] We don't worship God only if things go well in our life. We don't worship God only if we get a good report from the doctor.

[41:37] we don't worship God only if we get the promotion. See, praise and worship are different. I praise God for what he's done, but I worship God for who he is.

[41:55] So, worship is never dependent on my circumstances. My circumstances do not determine how good my God is.

[42:07] You worship him when circumstances are good. You worship him when circumstances are bad. It doesn't matter what you're going through, what you're facing, but I want you to understand that worship precedes refreshing.

[42:24] refreshing. If you need a refreshing in your life, I'm asking you to be a refreshing in your life. I'm asking you to