Pastor Loran Livingston 🔥God Is About to Silence the Pulpits That Refused to Preach the Truth

That's where I'm headed. That's my new address. I've been living in an apartment down here, but I'm going to a home in heaven.

Anybody want to go with me this morning? Let's go [applause] now. Father, my heart is full.

That first service today just rinsed me off and I'm full and running over. I feel like all of those rivers of living water are about to burst out of me right now. Thank you, Holy Spirit.

I'm asking you now, Lord, that you will open our understanding. I pray it all the time, Lord. It's I want the people to know it's not because I don't have something else to pray, but it's so important and it's such a gift for you to open our understanding that we can see.

And thank you, Lord. How many times did you say, "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear." [music] And yet we get to stand here and hear. Oh, praise you for those ears.

Praise you for that understanding. And now I praise you for this beautiful word. Oh God, your word is forever [music] settled in the heavens.

Your word is a lamp to our feet, a light to our path. The word of the Lord guides us, feeds us, [snorts] strengthens us. So thank you, Jesus.

we get to hear your word and all the church said, "Amen." >> Amen. >> Thank you for being seated. I don't know if you've smiled at the person beside you yet, but wouldn't hurt.

I have a routine. Sandra and I both get up very early every morning. [snorts] and she goes to her place and I go to my place and she studies her thing and I study my thing and I have a a regimen.

This Tuesday morning when I sat down to do that the Holy Spirit I I I don't want to say interrupted because he's the Holy Spirit. he can do whatever. But he nudged me in a different direction.

And I said to the early crowd, if you walk in the spirit and live by faith, you find yourself doing things you had not planned to do. And on this Tuesday morning, I felt the spirit nudging me to read in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John of the sufferings of Christ. And so I began I began in Matthew.

And when I gathered myself and realized that I'm not just going to read over this, this is to be received, it broke my heart. And I stopped really with tears streaming down my cheeks and I said, "Lord, will you forgive me for the many times I read this and didn't cry [clears throat] for the times that I read how they slapped you in the mouth and I didn't gasp." or for all those times when I read about a spike going in your hand and it didn't shock me again. I'm so sorry, Jesus, because this whole book is about you.

What happened when they arrested you that night and when you were tried unjustly and crucified was the central event in human history. It was the lowest day for mankind. Calvary showed the utter hatred that man has for God, but it also shows the utter love that God has for man.

>> And so I spent the remainder of this week really reading it. It wasn't a devotional that I was trying to get in. It was something I had to ponder and examine.

And it has torn me up emotionally more than once this week to think that everything Christ suffered, he suffered for me. You can go ahead and make it personal. He did that for me.

the sufferings of Christ. It is something that will never be understood. I don't even think we'll understand it when we get to heaven.

It was the ultimate thing that God did for me. I cannot pay him back. He doesn't even expect that.

I can only receive it with thankfulness. What shall I render unto the Lord for all of his benefits toward me? [sighs] I'll take the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord.

I'll never pay him back, but I can receive it and I can thank him for it. And I can remind myself until I leave this world, this is a holy book. And the ink and the words on this page were put here by God.

And they are not to be skimmed over or checked off. They are to be reverently understood. This holy book is to be admired.

It is precious. We are to yearn for it and live by it. But it's full of tough things.

When I think of the betrayal of Jesus, [snorts] he's sitting in an upper room that had been prepared for the last supper. He's sitting with men he loved to the very end. And he looks at one of them and said, "What you do, do quickly." And he dipped a piece of bread in wine and he gave it to Judas.

And Judas left and he betrayed the Lord and sold him for 30 pieces 30 cheap pieces of silver. For for someone who loves as deeply as Christ loved, that must have ripped his heart out. and then to take those 11 disciples that were left, stand them up and say, "Come with me." And they left that upper room and they walked down near the brook Kidron.

And he said to eight of them, "You guys stay here and pray." And he took Peter and James and John. And he went to a garden. And I have to read this to you.

He was withdrawn from them about a stone's throw. And he knelt down and prayed, saying, "Father, if it is your will, take this cup away from me." If you're not familiar with Bible language or Hebrew idioms, the cup is an event. It's an assignment.

When someone was spoken of as having a cup to drink, it meant that they had something that had to be done, a job to be finished. The cup for Jesus was the cross and the sufferings. Father, if if it is your will, take this cup away from me.

Nevertheless, not my will but yours be done. Then an angel appeared to him from heaven, strengthening him, listen to these words. And being in agony.

Agony. Y'all mind if I just be myself this morning? This is hard for me.

agony. I I've had dogs. I love dogs and cats and I've had a dog that got hit by a car and that dog was in agony and it killed me and all I wanted to do was take the pain away.

My savior, God's son, in a dark cold garden all alone was in agony. He prayed more earnestly. Then his sweat became as great drops of blood falling down to the ground.

Imagine it. such intense praying and warfare until the blood begins to ooze out of your pores and it drops to the ground. And when he rose up from prayer and had come to his disciples that he thought would be watching, he asked them, "Would you watch with me while I go pray?

Surely Peter, James, and John can watch with me while I pray. When he rose up from prayer and had come to his disciples, he found them sleeping from sorrow. They were so depressed and disappointed.

They just went to sleep. They had no idea that their sorrow had become his sorrow. Then he said to them, "Why do you sleep?

Help me. Rise and pray, lest you enter into temptation." And I see that in the scriptures. The agony of Jesus.

Well, that garden scene only gets worse because here comes the mob with torches and spears and swords and religious leaders and the betrayer Judas. And in the dark, they're looking for Jesus. And they take his beautiful hands and they tie them up with a rope and they lead him to Pontius Pilate eventually Annus [clears throat] then Caiaphas and then Pontious Pilate.

And there Pilate tries to wash the guilt from his hands and says, "I find no fault in this man at all." And he says, "But I'm going to turn him over to you. But I'm going to scourge him first." Scourge him for what? He never spoke a foul word.

He never had a bad thought. He never did an evil deed. He never hurt anybody.

And yet they tied him to a post. And they let the most vicious Roman soldiers whip him until they were weary. And they fellaided his back, and they exposed his bones, and the flesh fell to the ground, and the blood poured.

And the people laughed, and the leaders slapped him in the mouth and said, "Prophesy. if you're the king of the Jews, if you're a Messiah, tell us who just hit you. And then I just don't even have the time.

I don't know that I have the stamina this morning to talk about the cross. They took that Jesus who was at the point of death. They put a cross beam on his shoulders and made him carry it until his legs gave way.

And then they compelled one Simon to take it the rest of the way. And then when they marched him to Goltha, they laid that bleeding exposed back on that wooden beam and they nailed those hands to that cross. and those feet.

And the blood poured, and the devil laughed, and the leaders rejoiced, and his mother wept, and it was a dark, dark day. I think only Isaiah can say it better than I can. He is despised and rejected by men.

A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid our faces from him. He was despised and nobody cared.

That's what that means. Surely [snorts] he has borne our griefs. He has carried.

I'm going to make it personal. my sorrows. Yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted, but he was wounded for my transgressions.

He was bruised for my iniquities. The punishment for our peace was upon him, and by his stripes I [snorts] am healed. Oh, we like sheep have gone astray.

We've turned everyone to his own way. And the Lord God the Father has laid on him the iniquity of us all. I can't make that any planer.

Neither can I explain it. after all of the punishment that human beings could put on him and after all of the harassment that hell could muster against him. The father then took every sin I've ever committed and every sin you have or will ever commit and all the sins of the entire human race and put it on his shoulders for six hours.

Jesus Christ hung there thirsty, forsaken, lonely, abused, hurting, and nobody could help him. At high noon, the father said, "That's it. This is the blackest, bleakest moment in human history." You see, God, when he made the universe, created light first.

He wanted everybody to see it. But when it was time to redeem man, he turned the lights out and he himself could not even watch and he turned his back on his own son. The loneliest man in human history was Jesus Christ that day on that cross for you and and me.

Now, having said all of that, I'm going to back up a couple of pages. I want to go back to the upper room because what I'm about to tell you is is going to blow your mind. [snorts] Jesus is in the upper room and Jesus knows what's coming in the next few hours.

And Jesus sets his disciples down. And Jesus filled a basin full of water. And Jesus tied a towel around his waist.

And he went up to them and he got down on his knees and he washed their feet. He washed the very feet of the men who would run away from him. Those feet forsook Jesus, yet he washed them.

And then as they gathered around the table, this this is what I found this week in prayer and study, Jesus began the last supper. The Bible says as they were eating, Jesus took bread and blessed it. That means he thanked God for it.

He gave thanks for the bread and broke it and gave it to the disciples and said, "Take, eat. This is my body. This is what I can't get." Jesus knowing what's coming in the next few hours actually thanked God for it.

He said, "This piece of bread represents my body and it's going to be stomped and broken and whipped and abused and broken. Thank you, Father." He blessed it and said, "Thank you." He was thankful knowing what was coming. I had to ask myself, do I have that kind of faith?

Have I just given up because right now my life is a little difficult? I can't even offer up a praise or a thank you when God's already told me he's solved the problem. He'll meet the need.

He's already gotten victory. But but why can't I go ahead and thank God for it? I'll never face the cross because he bore it for me.

I'll never be whipped by a centurion because he took it for me. I'm going to preach this morning. >> I will never be forsaken by God the Father because Jesus endured it for me.

At least I can lift my hands >> in the midst of the trouble in my life >> and say, "Thank you, Jesus. >> Thank you, Father. I bless you for your body.

I bless you for your grace. I don't know what will happen tomorrow." Jesus did know. And Jesus knew it was going to be bad.

I don't know. But I know it won't be that bad. I can stop and I can lift my hands and I can bless his holy NAME BECAUSE GOD HAS ALREADY GOTTEN ME VICTORY IN WHATEVER I'M GOING TO GO THROUGH.

[applause] He held it up in that hand, that bread. And then he held up the cup and said as he gave thanks, "Drink all of it. For this is the blood of the new covenant which is shed for many for the remission of sins." It's it's a new day.

A NEW TIME IS COMING. Praise God. Jesus said, "Eat the bread.

Drink the cup." And I'm looking now at his hands. They don't have any scars in them. They're just rough carpenters hands, but they don't yet have holes in them.

In just a few hours, those very hands that had picked up little children and put them gently on his lap and blessed them and stroke their brow would have a hole in it. Those very hands that reached out to a little girl when she was dead and lifted her up will soon be marred. And that hand, that clean hand, one day reached way down to Peter and picked him way up out of a stormy sea and said, "Where's your faith?" Beautiful hands, gentle hands, about to be nailed to a cross.

Never again with th will those hands be without scar. Throughout the ages we will walk around with Jesus. We will hold hands with Jesus.

We will hold court with Jesus. We will interact with Jesus. And we will always see the nail prints in his hand.

And it will always remind us he did it for me. And as long as eternity rolls, whenever we walk with Jesus, we'll look down and see the nail prints in his feet. And occasionally when he's talking and blessing and glory, oh his priestly robe may fly open and we'll see the scar in his side and that will be for eternity.

And yet Jesus saw that instead of the pain of the cross, he saw the joy of you and me being in eternity with him. >> Brothers and sisters, I I've wondered how could he do this? And I thought Jesus must have seen something we can't yet see.

The Bible says, "For the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and is sat down at the right hand of God." He said to the disciples, right before he went to the cross, "I'll meet you in Galilee. I got a little thing to do first called die. I got something to do called rise from the dead, and then I'll see you boys in Galilee." So he looked over the pain of the cross and the crucifixion and he saw something that we don't yet get.

You see Paul wrote to the Romans in for chapter 14 and said the kingdom of God is not meat and drink but righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. See they were wrangling about church rules and religious requirements you know like we do all the time. Baptists have their rules.

Pentecostals have their rules. And it just goes on and on. And you got to meet standards and REQUIREMENTS.

AND WE JUST GET ALL CAUGHT UP. WHAT SHOULD YOU EAT? And what shouldn't you eat and can you drink and should you not drink on and on and on and Paul SAID, "HANG ON JUST a minute.

You people are caught up in stuff that does not matter. Let me tell you what the kingdom really is. righteousness, peace, joy in the Holy Spirit.

And I think that Jesus saw A RIGHTEOUSNESS WE DON'T YET know >> and a peace we can't yet comprehend. And a JOY WE'VE NEVER EVEN thought of. Listen, when we talk about righteousness today, we are the righteousness of God.

And in God's eyes, I'm as righteous as I CAN BE. I GOT A LITTLE PROBLEM, THOUGH. I need to calm down here.

I'm enscconced in flesh. I'm in a cocoon called flesh. So my righteousness sometimes gets blurred out by the flesh that's around me.

But there will BE A DAY WHEN I WON'T [screaming] HAVE FLESH around me. It's a righteousness I don't yet know about. How about peace?

He said righteousness and peace. We talk about there will be peace in the valley for me. Peace in the time of trouble.

He'll give you peace in the middle of the storm. BUT THERE'S COMING A DAY THERE WON'T BE A VALLEY. THERE WON'T BE TROUBLE.

THERE WON'T BE A STORM. IT'S A KIND OF PEACE WE DON'T YET KNOW ABOUT, BUT IT'S IN THE KINGDOM OF GOD. AND THAT'S WHERE WE'RE HEADED.

[applause] AND HOW ABOUT THIS? RIGHTEOUSNESS, PEACE, and joy IN THE HOLY SPIRIT. WOW.

WHAT KIND OF JOY MUST THAT BE? I GOT JOY right now. A little bit.

I got enough to get me through this service and THROUGH THIS DAY. YOU ALL KNOW WE HAVE JOY UNSPEAKABLE AND FULL OF GLORY. WE KNOW THAT JESUS SAID, "YOU CAN HAVE MY JOY, BUT THE PROBLEM still exists.

I got a body that's opposed to joy and righteousness and peace and Jesus and holiness and I got to fight it. And some mornings I get up and I JUST CAN'T FIND MY JOY. BUT THERE'S COMING A DAY >> WHEN THIS BODY WILL NO LONGER EXIST AND I WILL KNOW WHAT IT IS TO HAVE JOY IN THE HOLY SPIRIT.

NOT JOY WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT IN ME, BUT JOY IN the Holy Spirit. You see, the Holy Spirit must have a joy we don't yet know about. Jesus must have a joy we don't yet know about.

He said to the fellow uh that was a faithful servant, "Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of YOUR LORD." WELL, THERE MUST BE SOMETHING WAITING. And Jesus must have known something that made him kind of endure THE CROSS, LOOK PAST THE CROSS.

AND I'LL TELL YOU WHAT IT IS. HE KNOWS THERE'S COMING A DAY WHEN HE'S COMING BACK TO GET EVERY ONE OF US. AND WE'LL BE BEFORE HIM WITH RIGHTEOUSNESS, PEACE, AND JOY.

WE'LL BE THE FAMILY OF GOD. NEVER TO BE SEPARATED. NEVER TO BE TEMPTED.

NEVER TO BE DESTROYED. NEVER EVER AGAIN TO FALL INTO SIN. WE ARE THE BODY OF JESUS CHRIST FOREVER.

[applause] Praise God. Praise God. [applause] My my my I knew it would hit me SOONER OR LATER.

HERE IT IS. BOY, I FEEL JESUS UP IN here this morning. Okay, I don't know how many year years ago it's been.

I'm just going to say three babies ago, three children ago, we have a young lady in this church whose parents are on staff. Her name is Katrina. And Katrina met Jared.

And boy, did they fall crazy in love with one another. Katrina was so excited she glowed. Especially when he asked her to marry him.

She would come by the office and say, "I'm going to get married. Oh, I'm going to get married." Listen to me. In all my years of pastoring and marrying people, I never met a girl so excited about getting married.

I'm not kidding you. She was giddy. you start talking about marriage, she'd just kind of jump up and down.

I said, "Katrina, I've never seen anybody so excited about marriage." She said, "Only 32 more days. Only 16 more days." And I'll never forget that day when Jared was standing beside me here and those doors open there and I saw her in her wedding gown and I tell you she was beaming and she came down the aisle. People were standing so she couldn't yet see Jared.

They were standing and she was just smiling at everybody and doing this. Old Jared standing there with beads of sweat running down his head. He's nervous as he could be.

Kept looking at me and fidgeting. I said, "Just calm down, boy." [clears throat] And when she got to the corner here and saw Jared, I've never seen such a look of joy and happiness in my life. that girl wanted to be married.

And we went through the ceremony. I don't think she ever shed a tear. He did.

She didn't shed a tear. She just smiled and repeated those vows and gripped his hand and put that ring on. And I said, "I now pronounce you husband and wife.

You may kiss your wife." She grabbed him and let him have it. And on the way out, it's the truth. Now, God didn't let me remember that for nothing.

>> I got a question to ask the bride of Christ >> this morning. [applause] WHERE'S THE JOY? >> WHERE'S the giddiness?

WHERE IS THE PEACE THAT SAYS WON'T BE LONG NOW? WHERE IS THE HAPPINESS? I never saw Katrina upset about all those invitations, you know, and how much it's going to cost my daddy, all that.

I NEVER SAW HER get upset. I'm sure she did. I'm sure she did some crying.

But when I saw her, it was just four more days. I'm telling you folks, that's how the body of Christ, let me say it like this, that's how the bride of Christ ought to be living and acting on this earth. Our worship ought to be with a glow on our face.

Our walk ought to be like we believe he could come at any moment. I WANT TO GET MARRIED. I'M READY TO SEE THE GROOM.

HE WANTS TO SEE ME, BROTHER. WE OUGHT TO STOP BEING CAUGHT up in all OF THIS STUFF THAT DRAGS us down and wears us out and steals OUR JOY AND EVER SO OFTEN LOOK UP AND SAY, "HE'S COMING SOON. HE COULD COME TODAY.

I'VE GOT JOY, UNSPEAKABLE JOY, WAY DOWN IN my heart. [applause] [cheering] Do it, somebody. [cheering] HALLELUJAH TO GOD.

>> [applause] >> WELL, HOW DO YOU feel today? >> I don't know. I'm having a really rough day.

I don't know. I just The Lord sent you here to have me tell you this today. Lift your head up.

>> You're about to get married. You you you're about to marry the creator of the universe. >> You're you're about to marry the king of glory.

>> THE WATER WALKING, DEVIL DEFEATING, miracle working son of the living GOD WHO HOLDS ALL THINGS in the palm of his hand. [applause] SAY AMEN, SOMEBODY. >> [laughter] >> I wish you could feel what I feel right now.

>> Let me give you some pastorly advice here. If you struggle with your love for Jesus and and right now you're saying, "I I'd like to feel that way. I'd like to be that excited." I can tell you why you don't.

Come on. >> Want me to? >> I'm sorry.

>> Yes, sir. >> How about up in the balcony? >> That almost makes me want to go back to an 8:30 service and preach.

[snorts] You struggle with your love for Jesus when you neglect this book. You have a wandering mind and you're always trying to capture it so you can pray and think when you neglect this book. When you do what I've done many, many times, and that is just read it, that's when your mind says, "I think I'll go where I want to.

But when you sit down and you say to your flesh, "Shut up. Be still. Be quiet.

I'm in the presence of my groom. And I will not get up from here till I hear him. Till his holy spirit speaks to me, till I can feel an emotion, an uncction.

I will not get up from this place of reading and worshiping and praying. Folks, you got to stay there. Sometimes you have to stay there.

The longer I stay, the more I love Jesus. >> And the more I love Jesus, the less I love this world. >> Oh, having a little trouble with worldly things?

Are you? There's a reason right there. Always feel pull between the world and Jesus?

There's your reason right there. Don't ever really feel victorious and SPIRITUAL AND FULL. There's your reason right there.

Always feel like your mind's a little contaminated. On that night, Jesus, when he was washing their feet, said, "Now you are clean through the word that I have spoken unto you." This will clean your mind up. This cleans everything up.

The word of God will wash you. Folks, the reason we struggle so much in prayer and reading and living is that WE DO NOT GIVE ourselves to the word of God and prayer. But that's your job, Loran.

That's what we pay you for to do that and then feed us. Huh? You don't know what just went through my mind.

But because I've been reading this week, I just killed it. See, first of all, you don't pay me to do this. >> That's right.

>> I got called to do it. >> What you think OF THAT? >> WELL, WE PAY YOUR SALARY.

YOU DON'T pay me nothing. >> God supplies all my needs. >> [applause] >> Well, don't you get something from Of course I do.

It's the church's obligation to pay those that feed them the word of God. That's what it says. Pay double honor to those that are faithful to the word.

But I don't do this for you. You have to do it for you. You can't come in here on Sunday and say, "I hope he can get me back where I was last Sunday." No, sir.

You got to do it yourself. So understand the word of God has cleansing power. And then you need to remember too that same night when Jesus offered up the bread and the wine.

And then Paul reiterated it in 1 Corinthians chapter 11. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you do preach the Lord's death till he comes. This do in remembrance of me.

Not the first time I've said this. Jesus knew there was a day coming when he wouldn't be the center of the church. He would not be the center of many local congregations.

It would be the stars, the star preacher, the star singers. It would be the programs and the fufu and the all the stuff and and and he would be forgotten. So he said, "Remember me." That's what he's saying today.

Remember me. So, pastor, I'm struggling right now spiritually. You forgot him.

Is that too hard? >> No, it's the truth. Come on, pastor.

I'm just really, really, really at a hard place in my faith right now. You forgot him. Your mind's not on him.

Your mind's not in his word. Your knees are not bent. You're not bowing in his presence.

You're not spending enough time with God. I'm talking from experience. When I neglect those things, the world has a stronger pull on my life.

I struggle with victory in Jesus. I struggle with the things I see and say and think. But when I'm diving into the word of God and eating its sweetness deeply, I don't struggle.

There's a word for every one of you there. This is your solution. You won't have any trouble remembering Jesus if you stay in his word.

>> Jesus says, "Remember me now. Even now when you leave church today, remember me." You didn't just go and think about me for an hour and a half. When you go home, remember me when you get when you're packing for the cruise.

>> Yes, sir. remember me. Oh, when you signing for the new house, remember me.

Got you a new boyfriend, you better remember Jesus. >> Oh, I could go on and on, couldn't I? Don't forget Jesus.

Because the moment you forget Jesus, the world starts moving in, starts having an effect on your mind, your soul, and then will manifest itself through your body. So, I've come to tell you this morning, it's time for the bride of Christ to get serious about wedding plans. Have you checked your wedding dress lately?

Or should I say garment? Have you checked your wedding garment lately? Um, have you forgotten Christ?

And have you let your wedding garment sit in the corner? Is it wrinkled? Is there a spot on your wedding garment?

Is there a tear in it? You don't have a smudge on your wedding garment, do you? Because he's only coming back for those who have spotless >> robes.

This would be a perfect day for you to make a great big decision. Think I'll go home and check my wedding garment. Make sure it's pressed and clean.

This would be a good day for you to decide. Every one of you, I think the next four mornings I'm going to read of the sufferings of Christ. Monday morning, I'll start with Matthew.

Tuesday, Mark. Wednesday, Luke. Thursday, John.

Just the sufferings of Christ. Hold it. Cherish it.

Ask God for revelation in it and see if by Friday you aren't a different person. >> What was that song I sang this morning, Sandra? Ah, [sighs] >> I'm going to sing a song and I'm not a singer, but I got one in my heart.

And anybody that wants to join this bad singer with this real good preacher And I'm going to ask the bride [music] to lift your hands. Act like you can't wait to see the [music] groom. We bless you, Jesus.

Hear our cry, oh God. Attend unto our prayer. Hear our praise, oh groom.

We long to see you, oh God, our father, we thank you that you have provided a husband for us in Jesus Christ. [music] Holy Spirit, thank you that you introduced us one day. Thank you, oh God, for the hope of heaven.

May the Lord be with you. May you make it your mission this very week to spend time alone intense alone personal time with Jesus. Do not just check off a devotional box.

Go somewhere and say, "Speak, [snorts] Lord, for your servant is listening." Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, >> oh Lord, my strength, my redeemer. Now, how many of you think you got some joy? Go ahead.

Really? Do you have some joy this morning? Go ahead.

This joy that the world didn't give to me. >> [music] [singing]